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A 61-year-old Sasolburg man has been left angered and fearing for his life after being told he has to wait until 2020 before he can have surgery at a hospital in Kroonstad to treat his debilitating condition.

Joseph Morake had already waited seven months for November 30, the initial date of surgery given to him in April this year at Boitumelo Regional Hospital to alleviate the severe swelling in his scrotum – a condition known as bilateral hydrocele.

“To my understanding, if left untreated, this swelling could lead to a hernia or even prostate cancer.

“I already had anxiety throughout the seven months waiting for the surgery meant for last month … At my age, it really isn’t easy. And the swelling was getting enormous, making it difficult for me to sit or even use the toilet,” Morake told City Press this week.

But to his surprise and horror, Morake said on the long-awaited date of surgery he and a group of about 14 other patients were “rudely dContinue reading…

The Westbury clinic in Johannesburg was left without electricity after it was tampered with the facility’s main power cable said the health and social development department on Wednesday.

The clinic’s operating manager said in a statement he saw an unknown man running from the building on Tuesday afternoon after a loud blow noise was heard. He also noted smoke from the same direction as the bang.

“The fire brigade was called for precaution and the patients were evacuated. It was a relief to know that there was no fire and the smoke was of wires that burned when the cables were cut, “the department added.

Due to damage to the main power cable, the generator, which serves as backup, could not be switched on.

Services at the clinic have been temporarily suspended and all vaccines have been sent to a nearby clinic for storage.

City Power is working to restore power to the clinic.

Protea South Clinic in Soweto also experiences power cuts due to residents iContinue reading…

Rapport yesterday reported that Kimi Makwetu, the Auditor General, concluded that these claims are much more in seven of the country’s provinces than the various departments’ industry budget for 2018/2019 and subsequently contain large risks for service delivery.

Dr Eugene Brink, AfriForum Spokesperson for health related matters, says these facts are extremely concerning. “These claims weren’t taken into consideration when the budget was compiled and successful claims will thus have to be paid from money that was intended for services. However, it is not only simply the number of negligence claims that is a matter of concern, but also huge amounts of irregular expenditure.

AfriForum recently particularly submitted criminal charges in all the provinces regarding this type of expenditure that amounted tContinue reading…

The problem, which has been attributed to a broken washing machine and recent strike action at the hospital, has affected three hospitals – Livingstone, Dora Nginza and Provincial – as washing for all three hospitals is done at Livingstone.

Several plastic bags containing dirty linen are lying outside the laundry and while hospital management is trying to make contingency plans, the pile is growing.

Livingstone Hospital board member Pula Lonake said part of the problem could be attributed to recent strikes, with a change in hospital management also playing a role.

“One would expect some abnormality with the previous management going out. With new management in place we will be dealing with it and expect something to happen.

“We have the interest of patients at heart,” he said.

Lonake confirmed this had been the prevailing situation at the hospital for three weeks.

A growing tumour eating into the nasal passage of a Mitchells Plain man was diagnosed as a headache by staff at Groote Schuur Hospital after he went to the trauma unit to get help for the pain. Faried Jassiem, who felt too ill to go to work, went to the trauma unit after he felt he would pass out, but he never saw a doctor.

Jassiem’s wife, Zaafirah Jassiem, said: “A male nurse said to him why do you just come here with a headache? They became abrupt with him and told him to take a tablet and go home. They gave him a referral letter for Mitchells Plain Day Hospital.

“Sick as he was, and in pain, he had to get on a bus and travel to Mitchells Plain. On the bus his nose started bleeding. When he got to the day hospital, the nurse told him they might not see him that day.”

Zaafirah said her husband went back to the day hospital the next day in unbearable pain. By then his eye had shifted and he was experiencing double vision.

The ANC has no cure for the sickly state of health care in the Free State. Year after year the Auditor General (AG) diagnoses the Free State Department of Health with a serious case of poor leadership, mismanagement and maladministration. Year after year, the people of the Free State see no improvement in health care.

The AG’s audit outcome for the Department for the period of 2017 to 2018 indicates:

Irregular expenditure of R820 million (R596 million in 2016-2017).
Fruitless expenditure of R3,1 million (R900 000 in 2016-2017).
Unauthorised expenditure of R141 million (R68 million in 2016-2017).

An example of the poor management is the Department’s appointment of a local service provider that was outsourced to address health care challenges. The service provider was supposed to use the Department’s mobile clinics to focus on efficiency, coverage, specialisation and value for money.

The service provider was paid R24 million (R945 per patient) to do tContinue reading…

Twenty-one mental health patients who were part of the individuals transferred from Life Esidimeni healthcare facility to illegal NGOs are still missing.

In 2015, former Gauteng MEC of Health Qedani Mahlangu terminated a contract with the private hospital, saying it has become expensive to keep them there.

This resulted in 144 patients losing their lives.

The Democratic Alliance’s Jack Bloom says it is worrying that they have not been found after they have been missing for so long.

“The MEC for health has said that the Special Investigating Unit has been brought in to investigate. I think this is very good because some of these patients could’ve died at these NGOs and be secretly buried.”

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Gauteng MEC, Lesemang Matuka, says the department is concerned and it is pleading with the public to assist them in finding the patients.

“We once again call on the members of our communities or anyone who might have inforContinue reading…

A mentally disturbed patient was found with burns after being locked alone in a ward in the Wentworth Hospital in Durban, said the IVP.

Ncamisile Nkwanyana, the IVP’s health spokeswoman in KwaZulu-Natal, said urgent action should be taken against medical staff who neglect mental-disturbed patients in health care institutions.

“The neglect of such patients is a serious concern. Misconduct, incompetence and negligence do not belong in our healthcare system and there must be drastic action against anyone convicted of it. ”

Nkwanyana believes the nurses concerned should be suspended and their actions are being investigated, and if found guilty, they must be fired because “a lack of empathy may not be tolerated in our healthcare system”.

She says the IFP is concerned about the absence of professionalism in health care institutions and observes a collapse of the professional healthcare sector, especially in public institutions.

Spectramed Medical Scheme and Resolution Health Medical Scheme (Resolution Health) have merged to form Health Squared Medical Scheme, as from 1 January 2019.

Independent auditors confirmed that 93% of members voted for the merger, and the schemes have extensively engaged with the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) and, with their involvement, the merger process is now subject to final approval by the CMS and Competition Commission.

Health Squared will be administered by Agility Health, which is currently the managed care provider and administrator for both Spectramed and Resolution Health.

The launch of Health Squared forms part of an overall strategy to protect the interests of members while strengthening the service offering in the context of future developments in the South African healthcare landscape.

Deputy President David Mabuza has announced that government will prioritise the upgrading and maintenance of health infrastructure in an effort to deal with the challenge of ageing and dilapidated infrastructure in public health facilities.

Mabuza made the remark while highlighting the outcomes of the two-day Presidential Health Summit held in Boksburg.

During the summit, Mabuza said, it was agreed that in the context of fiscal constraints, provinces will be expected to prioritise their financial resource allocations in a manner that ensures that the delivery of health care is not compromised.

“More importantly, this summit pointed out that we need to develop a sustainable financing model for our health system. We will commence with this task immediately.

“National Treasury will be seized with this task to ensure that this model is finalised within a short space of time.

“As we lay a solid foundation for the implementation of the NHI, government wiContinue reading…